Day 22, and Day 23: C Town! or The Cleve!

It was harding getting myself up today, as I was up really late trying to catch up on my blogging... but OK.... So I left Mike and Genese's house a little later than expected and got a McDonalds Breakfast... Oh... Here's a picture of Gensese, but unfortunately I wasn't able to get one of Mike as he had already left for work. The nicest family.

It's GREAT finally being on the Northern Tier... within the first 2 minutes of riding I passed two WEST to EAST cyclists but they didn't seem to keen on talking.... I could barely get a wave outta them.

About 10 minutes after that I become convinced that I have a slow leak in my rear tire.... so I try to blow it up some but just end up letting all the air out.... So after about 10 minutes of reinflating.... I realize that I probably don't have a slow leak.... and it's just my paranoid personality.

I pass a trio of cyclists... one of them stops to say Hi... it is a brief exchange, but it feels good to talk to other people who are doing the same trek. His name was Jim.

I passed through some suburbs and some interesting neighborhoods before finally arriving in....

CLEVELAND!

Lemme tell you.... It's a pretty great city... The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was incredibly lame... but everything else was neat. Very Bike Friendly... On the far side of Cleveland!, I stopped at a beach where they had showers, running water, and.... water.... had I found this yesterday.... it would have been the greatest discovery in the history of mankind.... but alas.... today I am freshly showered, not too hot, and not in need of water.... I keep moving. But right on the beach I meet two other cyclists Tyger, and .... uh..... Friend of Tyger.... who are from Portland. They are super friendly and headed down to Mexico (via Cleveland!?) But they say they can hook me up with a place to stay in Portland or Olympia... which is awesome, and then they give me some tips on getting free food. They give me half a dozen bagels they found behind a bagel shop an hour earlier. It was really great to meet them. They struck me as the quintessential Portlanders.

OK.... Now it started to get hot, but the roads were in great shape and there were nice bike lanes. I stopped a few hours outside of Cleveland! and took a dip in Lake Erie. The beach was located ten feet from a MASSIVE electric plant... which was a little disconcerting, but it was a badly needed cooling off... I also took a short nap under a gazebo.

Later in the day I found myself in Vermilion when I needed to find shelter for the evening, but i decided to keep moving until Huron... along the way I met Daniel.... or was it David.... I think it was David.... He was a really neat guy who lives in Cleveland! and is thinking about riding the Southern Tier this Winter. He had done a considerable amount of hiking and gave me some tips on stealth camping. Good guy. Convinced me to try stealth camping tonight. He's originally from NYC.

I stop in Huron to find a spot to camp but unfortunately the only park is incredibly public, and offers no privacy... but i cant seem to find anyone to let me sleep in their yard... so..... here goes nothing. Huron is a tiny town of about 10,000 people and when Mike looked up the crime stats they had no murders, or violent crimes in all of 2004. So far so good.

I set up my tent next to a gazebo and try to get some sleep, but am awoken by about 4 or 5 angry high schoolers who pull up in a large truck. They leave me alone for the first part, but they are throwing rocks, hitting things, calling each other faggot and cocksucker, and drinking heavily.... a recipe for disaster.... I lie awake for an hour with my Leatherman nearby, readying myself for the moment they get drunk enough to start harassing me. Fortunately they eventually leave. But about 2 or 3 times throughout the night a car will pull up to the park and point its headlights at my tent, and then pull away about a minute later. Scariest night ever.... I just don't have the nerves for Stealth camping.... for now on I am just going to make it my business to ask some farmer for permission to camp on his lawn.

I wake up at 6am and have never been so happy to be woken up. I didn't get much sleep, so i move slowly... but hit the road about 7:30 and have a GREAT morning of cycling. I run into Dean and Laurie Twehues and we talk for a good 20 minutes about what to expect on the road ahead. They tell me to email them when I get to Seattle. They have sons who live there, who might be able to help me find a place to sleep. They mention that they didn't expect to see anymore westbound riders... which causes me to think that when I hit the incredibly remote section of the country.... I probably wont see any more Eastbounders... which is unfortunate because I imagine thats the part of the country where it would help most. Maybe I am wrong.

Dean and Laurie.... http://www.crazyguyonabike.com.doc/twehues2007

Oh... but Crazyguyonabike is down for the next 3 days. When it comes back up, I should have my own Crazyguyonabike page within the next day or two. Woo hoo!

I ride a trail from Clyde to Fremont where I hope to find Wifi... Instead I find rain and a Chinese buffet. I seek out a coffee shop in the rain so as to work on my blog, but cant seem to find one anywhere... I see a sign for HIGHER GROUND Coffee Shop down the street and run inside... but quickly realize that its a Christian Complex. They are blasting Christian Talk Radio... There are scripture quotes all over the walls... Pictures of Jesus, and Statues of Angels everywhere.... But its raining outside so I make myself at home and listen to some good old fashion talk radio.... the things I learned.... (Not joking)
1. Hillary Clinton = Hitler
2. Evolution leads men to commit murder
3. Mormons are apparently "out there"
4. Forgiveness is a 5 step process

Did you realize that its a child and not a choice? Weird, huh?

I eventually leave, and find a REAL coffee shop that isn't quite so weird. It has INTERNET! Woo.... but its stopped raining, so I should get moving on....

Oh.... but I think hurt my knee this morning somehow... If any of you read teamnortherntier2007... you'll know that Jamie had to sit out a week or two of their trip because he injured his knee.... what I'm feeling now sounds eerily similar to what he described in his posts. I really hope it's not... I guess the worst case scenario is to cycle very very slowly and maybe take the bus to Chicago on the 20th where I already have a 5 day break planned. Ugh... what a hassle. Hopefully it goes away tonight while I sleep. Keep your fingers crossed.

PS.... For the riding stats.... You'll have to go to my Crazyguyonabike.com page that will be set up in the next few days... I'm trying to create a division between the two pages.... Once it goes online, this page will be less about the events of the trip, and more on my thoughts.... FYI. I'll keep you updated on when it goes online... but for right now it all overlaps... so we're cool.

-Slo